Surviving remnants of a forgotten industry

If you are used to walking in the countryside how often have you seen stone-built arches built into hillsides, which give the impression of being small tunnels? And do you know how they came about and what was their purpose?

Many of these were once kilns where farmers would burn limestone taken from outcrops close by.

The limestone would then be burned using a fuel such as wood or coal.

This would turn the limestone to a product called quicklime, which when spread on the land would act as a stimulus to grass growth.

Nearly every farm that had limestone on its land, or near to it, would have their own kilns.

These varied in size and shape although it is the stone-built arches that were the most distinctive.

There has been little record of this on-farm industry and its history until now, but mother and daughter Frances Marginson and Helen Wallbank are setting that straight with their new book Limekilns and Limeburning – Around the Valleys of Hodder & Loud.

The book follows on from their efforts of three years ago when they wrote of another historic area of farming with their book Old Sheepwashes of Bowland & Chipping which sold as Helen describes “remarkaby well”.

“In spite of its former importance in agriculture the limeburning industry has sunk into oblivion, hardly even surviving in folk memory,” says Helen.

“All the former sites are now redundant and in some cases the stone has been recycled. Many have collapsed, although there are some tell-tale signs that they were once there; but there are also still quite a number that have survived intact.

“Limekilns were once important features of the local economy.”

Many lime-burners were the farmers themselves and they found various uses for quicklime.

Not only was it used on the land, it was also used in mortar for the building of stone houses and farm buildings; and for the whitewash formerly used as a waterproofing agent on the walls both outside and inside. It served to kill the bugs that lived there.

“Lime was also used in papermaking, tanning and dyeing of cloth, but mostly the farmers burned it for the improvement of sour and acid soils often reclaimed from the moorland which would then grow sweeter, finer and more palatable grasses on which their livestock would thrive.

“Lime was, and still is, believed to encourage the growth of clover.”

Helen also points out some of its more unique uses, including the burial of animals after diseases such as anthrax and foot and mouth.

Even more gruesome was its use in the removal and reinterment of bodies from graveyards.

It also had healing powers.

“On a brighter note the mother of a sickly baby that was not expected to survive was directed by her doctor to acquire a lump of quicklime, pour boiling water over it, allow it to settle, then skim off the water and feed it to the baby. The infant survived and is now 101!”

In common with many jobs associated with kilns Helen believes that the removal of quicklime would have been an unpleasant occupation working in the heat and dust. It also led to a popular saying of its time.

“The quicklime was taken from the draw hole of the kiln using long handled shovels and loaded into wheel barrows.

“It is said that a left-handed shoveller was much in demand as this made it easier and quicker for two men working side by side to fill the barrows.

“There is an old saying around here, which we found very apt as we were researching the book – ‘As dry as a limeburner’s clogs’.”

The word “slake” is not often used today, but it was a term that farmers were well aware of uttering once they had spread quicklime on to their land.

“Some farmers liked to draw out the lime from their farm cart into small heaps in rows on the field.

“Then they would leave it to ‘slake’ by the action of moist air and rainwater.

“This caused a violent reaction as a great deal of heat was generated.

“The quicklime would then bubble up and swell in bulk, then crumble into powder.

“After this the heaps were spread evenly over the field and harrowed to break up any remaining lumps.

“It was a system that worked well for them.”

The importance of limekilns and limeburning, specifically during the 1800s, cannot be underestimated.

When farms were advertised to let or for sale the particulars of the estate often included details of limestone being one of the farm’s assets.

This added value to the farm, providing an additional resource.

There were even assets for some more unlikely visitors to the farm.

“Due to the warmth generated from the kilns local tramps travelling around the district would be attracted for a night of greater heat and would sleep around the perimeter.

“But there were dangers too.

“In those days health and safety regulations did not exist as we know them today and there were many occasions when horses, workmen or tramps would fall in to a kiln often with fatal consequences.”

The days of on-farm limekilns became numbered in the latter part of the 19th century when commercial kilns and greater transport links such as the railways took a hold.

There was then a move away from the use of lime in the 20th century.

This resulted in a government subsidy that saw it come back in popularity, but it was shortlived and it didn’t see the return to on-farm kilns.

Today there are very few people left who were ever involved in limeburning and the authors have found that knowledge of the subject has not been passed down to today’s generations.

Helen and Frances are to be applauded for their extensive research and producing another very real insight into a former rural practice – and at least we all now know why some of those little tunnel-like enclosures are a part of the countryside.

Although limeburning was practiced in some countries for many centuries it was the Romans who brought it to the UK.

After the Romans left the burning of lime fell into disuse.

It was when the Normans came that its use came back to prominence as lime mortar for building castles and fortifications.

Limeburning gradually became more prominent amongst farming through monasteries and churches.

Monks began to use lime to improve their upland pastures for livestock.

Their early limekilns were called “clamp kilns”.

As kilns became even more popular local builders and joiners were contracted to construct them.

A diary kept by Sedbergh farmer Robert Foster in 1782/83 records the cost of building his kiln at a price of 50 shillings for the builder-cum-joiner, plus 30 shillings for the two assistants.

Liming and draining, with the addition of farmyard manure, were the traditional ways of improving acidic meadow, pasture and arable land.

Limekilns and Limeburning book

You can purchase a copy of Limekilns & Limeburning – Around the Valleys of Hodder & Loud by Helen Wallbank and Frances Marginson from Slaidburn Village Archive, The Heritage Centre, 25 Church Street, Slaidburn, Clitheroe, Lancashire BB7 3ER.

The cost is £10, which includes postage and packing.

Alternatively you can request a copy over the internet by contacting Helen by email.

Her address is Helen@halsteads. plus.com